Container carrying handle



March 7, R967 R. w. LOHEED CONTAINER CARRYING HANDLE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 25, 1965 Rm m N W u R A H m ,R

BY k

ATTORNEY arch 7, 1967 R. w. LOHEED 3,307,771

CONTAINER CARRYING HANDLE Filed Aug. 25, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 'INVENTOR RICHAR D W. LOH EED.

ATTORN EY United States Patent 3,307,771 CONTAINER CARRYING HANDLE Richard W. Loheed, West Lafayette, Ind., assignor to Inland Container Corporation, Indianapolis, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Filed Aug. 25, 1965, Ser. No. 482,501 4 Claims. (Cl. 229-52) This invention relates to carrying handles for corrugated fiberboard containers for liquid.

The packaging, distribution, and dispensing of liquids, such as milk, spring water, and the like, in containers of corrugated fiberboard rendered impervious as by the use of a thin plastic liner, and having a capacity of several gallons has become common practice. Such containers, which may have a capacity of ten quarts, and dimensions so as to be received upon usual domestic refrigerator shelving and provided with a dispensing valve for convenient access to the contents, are prosposed in Beall et al., Serial #386,634 filed July 31, 1964. Such containers when filled, weigh about twenty pounds, and are bulky for supermarket customers to handle, and difiicult to maneuver into position on a refrigerator shelf, the container usually being positioned on a side, to locate the dispensing valve at a level for gravity flow therefrom.

The present invention is directed to the application of a carrying handle to containers of the type described, to facilitate the carrying and handling of the containers when filled with milk or the like. The invention has to do with the application of an elongate C shaped handle of stiff" wire to such a container, in such a manner that the entire cost of applying the handle is the wire handle itself, the handle being applied to the container without requiring additional means. It will be appreciated that the container cannot be pierced, in the attachment of the handle by reason of the necessity that the container, and its liner particularly, must be protected, and the liner maintained liquid tight. Accordingly, the applying of handle to such a container is faced with difficulties. The handle must be so applied as to adequately support the weight of the filled container without undue strain on the container, and the handle must be such as to require little space. In addition its location should preferably be such as to facilitate the handling of the container, in the placing of the container upon refrigerator shelving.

The present invention is directed to a container of the type described wherein by flap arrangement, the handle is applied at the flap hinge connection to the container body portion. The handle supports the carton from the knee bend or fold line where the flap is hinged to the carton side panel, with the entire handle attachment being located between an outer and the inner flaps.

The above and other novel features of the invention will appear more fully hereinafter from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is expressly understood that the drawings are employed for purposes of illustration only and are not designed as a definition of the limits of the invention, reference being had for this purpose to the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings wherein like characters indicate like parts: I

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a filled and sealed container and carrying handle;

FIGURE 2 is a side view of the upper end of a filled container;

FIGURE 3 is a section through the upper portion of the container taken on the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken substantially on the line 44 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of the upper end of a 3,307,771 Patented Mar. 7, 1967 filled container, immediately prior to closing down the outer flaps;

FIGURE 6 is a side view indicating the aspect of the container when carried by the handle; and

FIGURE 7 is a schematic view of a shelf portion of a refrigerator, showing the location of a container on its side with its valved pour spout extended. I

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a container 20 for milk and the like, which in practice may have a capacity of 10 quarts, and be of a shape such as to be capable, when on its side, to set on a shelf in a domestic refrigerator, that is normally used for typical one or two quart milk bottles. For ten quarts capacity, the container may have a height, as indicated in FIGURE 1, of 12 inches, anda width and depth of approximately 5 /2 and 9 inches respectively. The outer container is preferably made of corrugated fiber board having inner and outer liners 22 and 24, and intermediate corrugating media 26, with the corrugations extending vertically, in the container as shown in FIGURE 1.

The container has side panels 28 and 30, and end panels 32 and 34. The container bottom may be closed by hinged flaps formed as extensions of the side and end panels, as desired, but not shown. In practice however, the flaps extending from the side panels 28 and 30 form the inner flaps, whereas the flaps extending from the end panels 32 and 34 from the outer flaps, such flaps meeting at the center line and being held closed by an adhesive tape, as indicated at 36. The inner-most of the inside bottom flaps may extend clear across the bottom to provide a smooth support for the thin walled impervious liner bag 38 disposed within the container.

The upper end of the container, after the liner bag 38 has been filled, is closed, by first positioning the bag attached pour spout 39 in the opening 40 of the inside top flap 42, which forms a hinged extension of the side panel 30, and thereafter closing the other inside top flap 44 down over flap 42, the flap 44 being a hinged extension of the side panel 28. It should be noted that the flap 44 is provided with a cut away corner section indicated at 46 to expose the end of the retracted pour spout 39 (indicated in FIGURE 2), and, a sight slit 48, through which the level of liquid within the container as it approaches the empty state, can be observed, when the container lies on its end panel 32. It will be understood that the container is adapted to be disposed on a shelf grid such as of a domestic refrigerator 92, with its valved pour spout 39 accessible upon the opening of the refrigerator door 94, as indicated in FIGURE 7.

The end panel flaps 50 and 52 are of like shape, and when closed down, meet at the transverse center line of the container, and such flaps 50 and 52 are held down, as by an adhesive section of tape 54 applied across the ends of both flaps 50 and 52 and along the sides of the container side panels 28 and 30 as indicated. The flap 50 has a partially severed tear out section 56 of generally oval shape, overlying the retracted spout 39, and the sight slit 48 in flap 42, and which section, when removed, permits the partial withdrawal of the pour spout, without opening the flaps 50 and 52, or breaking the seal afforded by the tape 54.

As has previously been indicated, a container of the size referred to, is bulky, awkward to handle, and weighs about 20 pounds. To provide a convenient carrying handle, which is economical, and also peculiarly located so as to facilitate tipping the container over so as to lie on its end panel 32, a C shaped handle wire of stiff steel is provided. The handle wire preferably has a straight section 60, curving into inclined side portions 62 and 64, which in turn are provided with inturned and aligned end portions 66 and 68. The spacing between the side 9 portions 62 and 64, just at the sharp bend 70 and 72, may be just a trifle under the width of the top flap 5 2 so as to bite into the side edges 74 and 76 of the fiap. Prior to closing the top flaps 50 and 52, the handle wire is forced down the flap 52 to the position shown in FIG- URE 5, the side edges 74 and 7-6 of the flap, yielding slightly to permit the application of the handle wire. The ends 66 and 68 are positioned in the knee 69 of the flap hinge, the corrugated board having been in effect scored or creased, as by crushing, along the hinge line to provide the flap hinge. The creasing along the hing line to form the hinge for the top provides in effect a recess desirable to receive the handle end portions 66 and 68, and when the flaps 50 and 52 are closed down and adhesive tape 54 applied across the flap ends, the handle end portions 66 and 68 are trapped in the knee bend of the corrugated fiberboard between the upper edge of the end panel 34 and the flap 52. The handle is readily swung out of the way so as to lie against the flap 52, or against the back panel 34, so that it in no way interferes with the stacking of a plurality of filled containers.

Furthermore by having the side flaps 42 and 44 pro vided with side edges 43 and 45 respectively, that extend up to the end panel 34, two thicknesses of corrugated board are in eifect disposed between the handle end portions 66 and 68 and the liner 3-8, to protect the thin walled plastic liner 38 from contact with the end portions 66 and 68, so as to eliminate any danger of liner puncture by the handle ends.

The ends 66 and 68 of the handle, extending as they do within the flaps, and transversely of the direction of the corrugations of the media, transfers the load to the back panel 34, through three thicknesses of kraft, the liners 22 and 24, and the corrugated medium 26, so that the handle cannot pull out or injure the container, or otherwise cause distortion of the container. *It should also be noted that the tape 54 which holds the flaps 50 and 52 closed, acting on the free end of flap 52, holds the fiap 52 closed against any tendency of the handle to pull the fiap open, by a mechanical advantage in the order of fiftyto-one, so that practically no strain on the adhesive tape 54 is added to reason of carrying the container by the handle. In addition, by providing the handle so that it is a trifie less wide than the flap 52, the sides 62 and 64 tend to indent into the side edges 74 and 76 of the flap 52, so as to preclude dislodgement of the handle from the knee bend 69 wherein the handle ends 66 and 68 nest, the knee bend also providing an additional recess to prevent dislocation of the handle from the hinge corner where it is installed.

Whether a handle wire is to be applied to a container, or omitted, as in some cases where the container is destined for restaurant use, is entirely up to the attendant Who performs the filling operation. If the container is being filled for the supermarket, and domestic handling, a handle is applied to flap 52, immediately before closing the flap and applying the tape 54 which holds the flaps 50 and 52 closed. On the other hand, the handle may be eliminated. Whether the handle is applied or left off, the procedure of filling and sealing is not altered, nor is any special provision, in so far as the outer box is concerned, required. Although a handle of C configuration is shown because of ease of formation from stiff Wire, the configuration can be a closed loop or of D shape, and if a closed loop, plastics may provide the necessary strength, and if the cross-section of the loop material be sufliciently fiat or ribbon like, so as to provide a broad bearing upon the underside of the flap but adjacent the hinge, the strength advantage by having the corrugations extending transversely of the knee bend of the flaps may become less important.

While a single form of the invention has been illustrated and described in considerable detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. As various changes may be :made without departing from the spirit of the invention, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, reference will be had to the appended claims for a definition of the limits of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A rectangular sectioned corrugated fiber board container having rectangular side wall panels and upper end outer and inner closure flaps formed as integral extensions of the container side wall panels, and defined in part by flap fold lines, the fiber board comprising two liners, and an intervening corrugating medium, the corrugations of which extend crosswise of the fiap fold lines, a C shaped handle formed from a section of stiff wire and having straight axially aligned end portions extending toward each other, said end portions being disposed adjacent the inside of the fold line of a closed outer flap and nested substantially entirely within the knee bend formed by the said closed outer flap, between the said closed outer flap, and the closed inner flaps, and means for securing the free end of the said closed outer fiap in closed position.

2. A container as set forth in claim 1 having a thin plastic liquid tight liner bag therein.

3. A container as set forth in claim 1 having a thin plastic liner bag disposed therein, said bag having dispensing means associated with at least one of the other fiaps, and disposed remotely from the handle.

4. A rectangular sectioned corrugated fiber board container having rectangular side wall panels and upper end outer and inner closure fiaps formed as integral extensions of the container side wall panels, and defined in part by flap fold lines, a handle having a portion disposed beneath and adjacent the inside of the fold line of a closed outer flap close to the knee bend formed by the said closed outer fiap, and between the closed outer flap, and the closed inner flaps, and means for securing the free end of the said closed outer flap in closed position.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,657,639 1/1928 Payne. 2,296,229 9/1942 Powell. 2,791,365 5/1957 Cohen 22952 2,872,095 2/1959 Adam 229-52 JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner.

D. T. MOORHEAD, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A RECTANGULAR SECTIONED CORRUGATED FIBER BOARD CONTAINER HAVING RECTANGULAR SIDE WALL PANELS AND UPPER END OUTER AND INNER CLOSURE FLAPS FORMED AS INTEGRAL EXTENSIONS OF THE CONTAINER SIDE WALL PANELS, AND DEFINED IN PART BY FLAP FOLD LINES, THE FIBER BOARD COMPRISING TWO LINERS, AND AN INTERVENING CORRUGATING MEDIUM, THE CORRUGATIONS OF WHICH EXTEND CROSSWISE OF THE FLAP FOLD LINES, A C SHAPED HANDLE FORMED FROM A SECTION OF STIFF WIRE AND HAVING STRAIGHT AXIALLY ALIGNED END PORTIONS EXTENDING TOWARD EACH OTHER, SAID END PORTIONS BEING DISPOSED ADJACENT THE INSIDE OF THE FOLD LINE OF A CLOSED OUTER FLAP AND NESTED SUBSTANTIALLY ENTIRELY WITHIN THE KNEE BEND FORMED BY THE SAID CLOSED OUTER FLAP, BETWEEN THE SAID CLOSED OUTER FLAP, AND THE CLOSED INNER FLAPS, AND MEANS FOR SECURING THE FREE END OF THE SAID CLOSED OUTER FLAP IN CLOSED POSITION. 